Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

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Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

PG

2009

1h 45m

Kids & Family

Comedy

Fantasy

Adventure

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

43%

Tomatometer

166 Reviews

47%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

Once the night guard at the Museum of Natural History, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is now a successful purveyor of infomercial products. Soon after learning that his museum friends have been shipped to the Smithsonian Institution, Larry receives a distress call from Jedediah, who warns him that four of history's greatest villains have come to life and are planning to take over the Smithsonian first, then the world. Larry joins forces with friends old and new to stop the quartet's nefarious plans.

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Critics Consensus

Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian is busy enough to keep the kids interested but the slapstick goes overboard and the special effects (however well executed) throw the production into mania.

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David Denby

The New Yorker

06/01/2009

The result is pretty much a free-form traffic jam in which everyone fights everyone else.

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Anton Bitel

Little White Lies

05/25/2009

a scattergun trawl through human (albeit mostly American) history and culture, with the emphasis more on entertainment than instruction.

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Sandra Hall

Sydney Morning Herald

05/24/2009

3/5

All up it's Levy's best work so far and while I realise that's faint praise, it's far from being damning.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

12/15/2023

1/4

Though brimming with computer special effects and celebrity cameos, the movie’s marvels are hardly impressive, given that they’ve recycled everything from the first and just added a couple of new features for good measure.

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

11/29/2020

4/10

A really, really stupid comedy.

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

09/18/2020

2.0/4.0

Robin Williams, as well, explodes every single time he's onscreen in a performance with even more spark and humor than in the original.

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Paul S

@PManRager Jul 7

It didn't have as much charm as the first one, but this movie was still so much fun to watch and full of hilarious moments. I definitely recommend it!

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Luke S

@RT57051767 Jun 24

Amazing movie and franchise, Amelia is a shiny star and is gorgeous as can be (I want her to ride me across the Atlantic) (IFYKYK) if you are hating on this movie you hate fun, all in all a great movie with great reward ability.

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Kid R.

@Philadelphiagoosebumpsfan Jun 2

That’s the way uh huh uh huh I like it

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Joel C

@Joelcas1613 May 24

I loved it. A good bit of fun for the family. 4 stars, God bless.

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Peter S

@Stotpom May 23

Well done ruining what could have been a decent bit of fun. Terrible script, dull story and just way to much noise. And seriously, whose stupid idea was it to include that superfluous, supremely irritating Amelia Earhart character? Not worth even illicitly downloading.

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Mitchell S

@Mitchstur Feb 17

It's every bit as well written as the first one, but with a grander scale and even more fun historical characters! It might even exceed the first one!!

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Shawn Levy

Director

Ben Stiller

Larry Daley

Robin Williams

Teddy Roosevelt

Amy Adams

Amelia Earhart

Owen Wilson

Jedediah

Hank Azaria

Kahmunrah

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Synopsis

Once the night guard at the Museum of Natural History, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is now a successful purveyor of infomercial products. Soon after learning that his museum friends have been shipped to the Smithsonian Institution, Larry receives a distress call from Jedediah, who warns him that four of history's greatest villains have come to life and are planning to take over the Smithsonian first, then the world. Larry joins forces with friends old and new to stop the quartet's nefarious plans.

Director: Shawn Levy
Producer: Shawn Levy, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
Screenwriter: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: 1492 Pictures, 21 Laps Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox
Rating: PG (Mild Action|Brief Language)
Genre: Kids & Family, Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 22, 2009, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 19, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $177.2M
Runtime: 1h 45m